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Monday, February 27, 2012

Highs and Lows - End of February

Highs

For my first high (which is actually from a couple weeks ago) doesn't my blog look cute? I befriended the blog designer Fairy Blogmother without even knowing she was the Fairy Blogmother and she very sweetly helped me out of the mess I had made of my blog because I have no clue what I am doing. So a million thank yous to Erika. (Yes, those of you who never click through to look at my actual blog from your email, click here. Really. Then tell me how pretty it looks.)

Dalton started taking violin last year. The first song the munchkins learn is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Very sweet. And of course learning a song on the violin involves tremendously more than just learning notes. There's things like squishy octopi, highways and sandwiches. So he has finally mastered Twinkle and we were able to begin the next piece. It was exciting to see that Dalton has learned so much that he could sound out most of the song himself. It's fun to see him not only learning to play an instrument but really getting a feel for music.

Lizzy is this sweet girl in our violin class with Down Syndrome. She is infallibly kind to all the other kids and they all just adore her. I don't think her mom was sure at first how much she would learn, but last Thursday we were able to hear her play all the way through Twinkle by herself. She just makes the most beautiful noise when she plays. I'm so grateful that her mom put her in lessons so we could meet her and my kids could become friends with such a great person.

I had a funny conversation with Dalton that went as follows:

Dalton: "I did a decrescendo. Did you hear it?"

Me: "Yup, great job. Do you remember what the opposite of decrescendo is?"

Dalton: "Umm...night crescendo?"

Lows

Vacuum: My vacuum sucks because it doesn't suck. At least not well. And this week it stopped sucking all together. Which sucked.

And of course, it was not actually broken so that I could tell Medman, "I NEED to go buy a new vacuum that doesn't suck! 'Cause mine doesn't suck! So I can't vacuum!" To which he would have replied, "You know how to vacuum?"

But it wasn't broken. Just clogged with grossness. And by grossness I mean cheerios and hair. Blech. So I had to clean it out. Which sucked. And now it sucks again.

Urine: If only children could see the big picture. Like if they started having an accident in their big brother's room while standing on a big stuffed animal the decision to then run across his room, down the hallway and across the bathroom to the potty while continuing to have said accident is not really helpful. Yes, I know I say you should try to get your pee to the potty. But a close second is to keep your pee localized. Thanks for trying to help, sweetie.

Biggest Low of the Week:
The biggest low was this dreadful night with Belle last week. Well, it was mostly Belle. I also had a friend in the ER who might need a ride home at midnight, a husband on call who had to run off to help deliver a baby or some such rubbish and a six month old who decided he was incredibly hungry all night.

The friend, the husband and the baby are pretty self explanatory as to why I missed out on sleep, but Belle was the kicker. She was up at least once an hour crying for me but then when I appeared she was fine and would look around the room saying, "Ummmm..." until she could think of a reason worth having me in the room. A reason like, "Do you want to read me that book?" It was like she was just awake and bored. Until 3:30 am.

The only time there was actually a crisis she screamed bloody murder. I ran in to see her trying to claw her way up the walls because, "THERE'S A LADY BUG ON MY PUSH LIGHT!"

Belle's developed a phobia of bugs. Poor thing is terrified of them. And especially those menacing lady bugs. I've been letting Belle have this little light you push to turn on in her room as a nightlight and of course the bug is going to be attracted to the light...

Anyway, the drama has been immortalized in song now and it is a house-wide hit. "Lady Bug on a Push Light" is sung continually around here. It's really catchy.

You want to hear it? No problem. Show up at Walmart while we are there. Dalton must like the acoustics there, because he belts it out non-stop and pesters every employee we see with, "Excuse me, lady. Can I sing you a song called Lady Bug on the Push Light?"

***

So, dear friend, have any highs or lows you'd like to share? Feel free to leave them in the comments or email me. It'd feel like we were chatting.

hahahaha oh dear, i realize the pee story is not funny for you since you are the one who needed to clean it up- but the way you told the story is hilarious, you kill me janice- TOO FUNNY!!!my high this week: octavia won best supporting actress. man that chick can act. my low this week: spending oscar night spooning with a heating pad and multiple ibuprofen. HURRAY.have a great week, love

Whimsy-ma-who?

I'm Janice, a thirty-uh-something year old wife and mother of the three cutest children on the planet and of the cutest tiny baby saint in heaven. I like to chat with my husband, Medman, listen to the stories told by my 8-year-old son, Dalton, die laughing at the humor of my 5-year-old girl, Belle, try to keep tabs on the 3-year-old, Liam, and try to stay home as much as possible. If being a homebody were quantifiable by some chemical in the body, mine would be off the charts. When left to my own devices I like to sew, paint, read and dream of the day when I have nothing but vast open hours to write.